Meer Irfan
Mohammed Iqbal Ganie, a tailor by profession returned to his home in Cheke Cholan, Shopian after a hectic day of work on Tuesday evening. On a cold winter evening, as soon as he got home, he asked his family to serve him food. He got inside his room, where he wrapped himself in a blanket, got his a Kangri, and leaned his back against the wall of his room. On Thursday, the wall of the house is razed to the ground. The blanket burnt to ashes and the Kangri broken to pieces.
On Wednesday morning, the Jammu Kashmir Police said that a gunfight had broken out after Militants hiding inside a residential house in Check e Cholan area of Shopian were asked to surrender, but they fired instead. The forces including the Rashtriya Rifles of the Indian Army, Jammu Kashmir Police, and Central Reserve Police Force retaliated to the firing. During the following exchange of gunfire, three Militants were killed.
Police in their official statement on 08 December said, “Encounter broke out during the early hours this morning shortly after security forces cordoned the area following a tip-off about the presence of militants there.”
Police spokesman said that during the encounter three militants of LeT (TRF) were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter. The militants were identified as Amir Hussain Ganie, Rayees Ahmed Mir, and Haseeb Ahmad Dar, all residents of Shopian.
“As per police records, all the three killed militants were categorized militants linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT (TRF). They were part of groups involved in several cases, including attacks on security forces and civilian atrocities,” a police spokesman said.
He also said that the killed militant, Aamir Hussain, was active since September 2020 and involved in several Militancy-related crime cases, including the attack on forces at Rakhma village on October 1.
The encounter was over. The forces moved out of the area taking the bodies of three militants along. Their weapons were recovered. When the locals, who had been evacuated as a part of the security SOPs returned to the houses, Mohammed Iqbal Ganie could not find his house. He saw that his house has been reduced to rubble.
“Tried looking for Quran Shareef in the rubble, but to no avail”
The two minor daughters of Iqbal are inconsolable as they see people taking the ash and rubble away from the house. “They set ablaze the whole house, did not even spare our books. We could not take out anything. Only the clothes we have worn are safe,” wails the 12-year-old daughter of Iqbal. She is the eldest of the two.
Mohammed Iqbal says that around 11:30 PM on Tuesday, he was sleeping after a hectic day of work when some suspicious movement and strong lights peeping inside the house woke him up. “I had just slept after having my dinner. When I heard loud sounds and someone knocking at the door, I assumed it was a dream and slept again,” Iqbal remembers.
A few moments later, Iqbal says, he woke up to the cries of a boy from the neighbourhood. “Iqbal Sahab, wake up. The Army is at your door,” the boy cried. Iqbal could not sleep after that. He said, “I got my children ready, rushed out of the house where the Force Personnel frisked, and asked me if my name was Iqbal.” Iqbal says after he responded positively, he was frisked again and his identity card was checked. “They asked me if I was hiding anyone inside the house, I told them ‘No’,” he told The Kashmiriyat.
He says that after a while of frisking, his nephew who lives in the nearby house was frisked and questioned, too. “I do not know what they asked him. After I had been frisked, I was queued up at a side,” Iqbal said, adding, “The force personnel then evacuated us from the spot. The whole night, we were made to stay in a house. It was a night of hell for us. Bullets and bangs scared my children and I held them very close to me.” They kept asking their father if it was their last night. “We are going to live and survive the winter and summers in our house,” Iqbal told his children as the gunfight continued outside.
Iqbal says somehow, the fear of the night passed. Iqbal said that eventually the families were asked to leave around 6 PM. “When I returned to my house along with my children, I was devastated to see the sight of it,” he said. There was no house left, he laments. “It was all gone, just ash and rubble, broken things. Nothing was left,” he said. “My daughter,” Iqbal says, “ran to check her books and Quran Shareef, but she could not find anything, but ash.”
Iqbal emphasizes that there were no militants hiding inside his house. “When I left the house, there were no militants inside. I do not know what happened after. Where did the militants come from?” Iqbal said to The Kashmiriyat.
Iqbal, today, was added to a long list of Kashmiris who lost their houses during encounters between Government Forces and Militants. However, hundreds of such families who are left with no house in such incidents have got no compensation from the administration. The administration does not maintain a record of the houses damaged.
“Where shall we go in this cold winter. Who shall we ask for help? We are left with nothing, literally nothing,” Iqbal says as more people rush inside the house to help the rubbles out of the house.
According to official data, at least 5,368 shops, houses and other privately-owned structures in Kashmir suffered damage from 1989 to 2001. No such data is available for the last 17 years but the number can be reasonably estimated to have increased manifold.
Year 2021 Leaves Behind Myriad Roofless Families
On 29 January, one house was damaged in Mandoora, Tral during an encounter in which three militants were killed.
In Badigam, Shopian, one house was damaged during encounter on 18 February and three militants were killed.
Six houses were damaged and two militants were killed during and encounter kn Rawalpora, Shopian on 13 March.
On 11 March, three houses were damaged and two militants were killed during an encounter at Kandipora, Bijbehara.
In Manihal, Shopian, one house was damaged and three militants were killed during an encounter on 22 March.
On March 27, one house was damaged during an encounter where one militant was killed at Dangam area of Harmain, Shopian.
On 03 April, two houses were damaged and three militants were killed in Kakapora, Pulwama.
In Shopian town, on 09 April, five militants were killed and one house was damaged during an encounter.
On 11 April, one house was damaged at Semthan Bijbehara, Anantnag.
A militant was killed and a house was damaged in Zainpora village of Shopian district on 19 April.
On 11 May, one house was damaged in Vailoo, Kokernag and A house was damaged at Khanmoh Srinagar on 17 May.
One house was damaged at Wagooda, Naugam, Srinagar on 16 June. In Shrimal, Shopian, a house was damaged during an encounter on 23 June.
On 25 June, one house was damaged at Hanipora, Shopian and on 28 June, one house was damaged at Malhoora, Parimpora.
One house was damaged and five militants were killed at Kangan, Pulwama on 02 July.
On 07 July, one house was damaged and a top HM commander was killed at Handwara in north Kashmir.
A house was damaged at Puchal, Pulwama on 08 July.
In Kawarigam, Ranipora, area of Anantnag, one house was damaged and two militants were killed on 10 July.
On 14 July, two houses were damaged one house was partially damaged in New colony, Malikpora, Pulwama.
In Warpora, Sopore, one house was damaged and two militants were killed during an encounter on 24 July.
On 13 August, one house was damaged at Malpora Mir Bazar in Kulgam district.
One house was damaged at Peith Seer village of Sopore and three militants were killed on 24 August.
A house was damaged in Feeripora area of Shopian on 12 October. On the same date, another house was damaged and three militants were killed at Tulran, Shopian.
On 20 October, one house was damaged at Sopat Devsar area of Kulgam. On the same date two houses were damaged at Cheerbagh Dragad area of Shopian.
A house was damaged and two militants were killed during an encounter at Chanser, Czawalgam in Kulgam district on 11 November.